The present invention relates to a metallized textile web and a method of producing the same.
The term "textile web" is used to identify a piece of fabric which has a length considerably greater than a width and can be rolled to form a textile roll so that pieces of desired length can be then cut from the textile roll. The present invention deals with a textile web provided with a metal lining which adheres to the textile web and has the flexibility corresponding to that of the fabric.
Such metallized textile webs are known in the art. The German documents DE-PS 17 04 785 and DE-OS 24 13 225 describe processes of producing the metallized textile webs through an intermediate carrier which practically operates as a pressure element and presses a thin metal layer onto a running "unendless" synthetic plastic foil. The metal layer is applied on the intermediate carrier by evaporation in vacuum or by galvanic deposition. Both references deal with small plastic bands for packaging. The metallized bands serve primarily for advertising and gift purposes, or for decorating of party spaces, such as garlands, etc. The adherence of the metal layer is pressure adherence and therefore is low also on a foil. It is questionable whether such metallic adherence on a fabric is possible and reliable.
Metallization of textiles is in principle known and disclosed for example in the German documents DE-OS 26 59 625 and DE-PS 31 27 505. The first mentioned document discloses the metallization of a cut textile piece with an electrochemical process. Then the metallized textile piece together with other non-metallized textile pieces of the same cut are soaked with synthetic resin and compressed to a stack for preventing breaking or tearing the rigid metal layer during bending. The thus produced composite serves primarily for printed circuits.
The German document DE-PS 31 27 505 discloses spraying of the metal in a known manner in melted condition by means of a spraying gun, directly onto a cut textile piece. This piece, similarly to the above-explained process, is assembled together with other equal non-metallized textile pieces to form a stack, and then soaked with polymerizable synthetic resin. The stack is pressed in a heated forming tool to the desired shape, and the synthetic resin is simultaneously polymerized. The applicant of this reference is the aviation firm Dassault-Breguet Aviation, therefore the object of this proposal is to produce airplane parts.